Friday, 24 May 2013

Last-Week Links: 24 May 2013

I love my little routine on a Thursday evening, when I come in from my sewing class and spent a bit of time looking over all the bits and pieces I've squirrelled away from the internet, and putting this post together. But, my goodness, every time I type the date in, it's a reminder of how quickly the year is rushing by. When I looked at the picture, it was accompanied by the sound of years whizzing past me. It's a campaign for Brooklyn brand, It's Okay My Dear, as featured on Calivintage, and the clothes are lovely stuff: neat shorts and shirts, with cute cat pockets. I was shocked, however, to find out the model is Rachel Trachtenburg, who I last saw as a young girl drumming in her family band, The Trachtenburg Family Slide Show Players. Now look at what a sophisticated cat she is! Once at a gig, she did tell me she liked my glittery shoes, so obviously she's always had refined tastes.

Calivintage, and Katie-Louise Ford both featured the beautiful collection of Rosapina Vintage Handmade. Beautiful dresses, skirts and blouses; I adore the fact they were made by a mother and daughter team, using a grandmother's fabrics from the 1950s and 60s. I also love the inter-generational story behind Analog, found through Take Courage. They're a brother and sister who found a treasure trove of family clothing which they are gradually selling on. There's great stories behind each of the garments. The pretty blouse that Cat bought, for example, was made for their Nana while in Italy.

If we're talking about treasure troves, this video shows quite a wonderful one. It's Hamish Bowles let loose with Chicago History Museum's amazing collection of Charles James dresses. I'd seen them in pictures (the V&A has some great examples too) but they look even more drop-dead fabulous on film. All those colourful layers - beautiful! I sent this onto my boss, for work-related reason but had to preface it with a note about the slightly eye-brow raising beginning. I can completely believe it. Remember how raffish James looked in The Fashion Makers?

If I'm mentioning mega-names of fashion, I also add that I liked this analysis of leading fashion brands on Pinterest. Is it just me, or are all the top ten items extremely ugly? I'm not a huge fan of spindly high heels (come and take a look at my collection of librarian-worthy favourite flats on my Pinterest instead).

There were lots of Life magazine photos doing the rounds this week. Honey Kennedy shared Sophia Loren's suitably lush Roman villa from 1964, and more glamour came from their collection of images taken at the Cannes Film Festival in 1962. My favourite though, was the images taken by Nina Leen for a December 1944 article called "Teen-Age Girls: They Live in a Wonderful World of Their Own". The photographs show the girs being typical teenagers: listening to records, drinking milkshakes, indulging in their own unique trends and crazes, and looking young and lovely while doing so. This picture alone has made me vow to hang my cardigan off my back more often and finally invest in a pair of saddle shoes.

You know who else would approve of that look? The divine Audrey Horne, of course. It's been a while since I've managed to squeeze in a Twin Peaks reference and a gratuitous picture of Audrey, so I was extra pleased to see this Audrey Horne inspired make-up piece on XOVain. It's quite apparent that looking like Audrey requires more effort than I'm truthfully ever going to give it. Oh well. The comments are typically XO brilliant too.

Have a lovely weekend, whether you are spending it perfecting an Audrey smoulder, or have a good old vintage rummage in mind. It's a bank holiday weekend in the UK and I'm looking forward to catching up with a very good friend who's visiting from Scotland. Lots of chat and cups of tea await for me. See you next week.

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Visualize yourself as you looked on a beautiful autumn day last year. There's not much of the picture that survives. Not the hemline, waistline or the shoulderline ... If you're not a Last-Year Girl. You'll like the feel of a longer, fuller skirt flowing around you as you move ... You'll enjoy having hips again - without apologies; and the satisfaction of a small, rounded, tapering waist and of having it show in the snug bodice tops. You can have it all.